LawFuel’s 2022 Lawyer of the Year is the battling ‘loophole lawyer’ who fought to get Charlotte Bellis into the country under the MIQ lottery system.
Australian organisations are facing a critical “digital blind spot” that leaves them highly vulnerable to catastrophic operational outages, regulatory penalties, and reputational damage. A newly released white paper by Australian law firm Clayton Utz, titled Closing the digital blind spot: managing third-party risk, warns that a dangerous gap has emerged between how risk is managed on paper
Clayton Utz Warns Australian Organisations of ‘Digital Blind Spot’ That Opens High Risk Read More »
A New Zealand offshore trust firm is capitalising on litigation-fearful US doctors who are moving funds into protective structures. Southpac Group says new client numbers rose more than 290% between 2022 and 2025, with the US now accounting for around 85% of its client base. The growth follows new US research showing almost 60% of
Rising Litigation Concerns for US Doctors Sees New Zealand Trust Group Expand Read More »
Six Auckland law firms have been formally warned by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) after failing to complete mandatory independent anti-money laundering audits, in what regulators describe as the first coordinated enforcement action of its kind. The public warnings form part of a wider sweep involving ten reporting entities, including a real estate agency,
AML Warning Shot Sees Six Auckland Law Firms Caught in DIA Compliance Crackdown Read More »
Tom Borman, LawFuel contributing editor The confirmation of Justin Smith to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit is a major moment in Donald Trump’s second‑term judicial strategy. The Senate voted along party lines to hand Smith a lifetime seat on a key federal appeals court that covers seven states. To much
The Rise of Justin Smith – How a Missouri Boutique Cornered the Federal Judiciary Read More »
The £240k Problem: Why NZ Firms Are Losing Lawyers To London New Zealand’s legal job market is heating up, but for many large and boutique firms the real story is not just demand – it is the steady bleed of 3–4 year PQE lawyers to London, where US‑based firms in particular are offering money local
London’s Pay Lure Is Draining NZ’s Mid‑Level Talent Read More »
Five Men Arrested and Charged in Plot to Attack and Kill Government Officials and Others Attending the Ultimate Fighting Championship at White HouseWASHINGTON — The Justice Department announced today charges against five men for an alleged plot to carry out an attack to kill government officials and others attending the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Freedom
FBI Foil White House Terror Plot at Ultimate Fighting Championship Read More »
New Zealand’s premium legal market is dominated by four names everyone knows. But beneath that familiar canopy sits an elite tier of specialist boutiques that punch absurdly above their weight — firms that regularly win work the large players refer out, whether for conflicts, specialist depth, or simply because the client wants a partner who’ll actually run the matter.
Our inaugural New Zealand ranking draws on Chambers, Legal 500, Benchmark Litigation, and five years of NZ Law Awards data to identify the boutiques that genuinely compete at the top table.
The findings? One Auckland litigation firm has won Specialist Firm of the Year four times in five years — a dominance unmatched anywhere in the market. Another is described by peers as providing services “at or better than the litigation departments of the largest firms.” And at the independent bar, a single chambers holds more King’s Counsel appointments than any other set in the country.
We’ve also identified the corporate boutique operating at “the top end” of the M&A market with just six lawyers — and the insurance specialist that’s scaled to 90 lawyers without taking a single non-insurance instruction.
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Brophy and Lei join Bracewell’s Houston office as partners, deepening the firm’s upstream and midstream oil and gas transactional capabilities at a time of strong deal activity across those sectors. Bracewell LLP announced today that Kevin Brophy and Ming Lei have joined the Houston office as partners in the oil and gas transactions group. The two partners bring complementary upstream and
Oil and Transactions Lawyers Join Bracewell in Houston Read More »
The London legal market just got another massive jolt as US mega-firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett muscles further into City territory.
Simpson Thacher, a private equity titan, the elite New York-headquartered firm has officially launched its first-ever formal UK training contract, which they are backing it up with serious Wall Street cash showing – once again – how the big money US firms are reshaping the London legal scene.
Partner Eva Y. Mak has been named to the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list for 2026. This annual list honors 40 rising stars in Silicon Valley who have distinguished themselves in their companies, communities and industries. Eva is a private capital M&A partner based in Silicon Valley and San Francisco with extensive experience
